Apparatus and method for providing gui interacting according to recognized user approach

ABSTRACT

An interface controlling method and an apparatus thereof are provided to control a user interface based on a proximity sensor and a touch pad. A number of items are displayed, an item approached by a user is identified by sensing an approach, information is provided regarding the identified item, contact by the user is sensed, and a function corresponding to the user contact is performed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2009-78364, filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Aug. 24,2009, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

Exemplary embodiments described herein relate to a method and apparatusfor controlling interface, and more particularly, to a method andapparatus for controlling user interface based on a proximity sensor andtouch pad method.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, display apparatuses such as TVs, electronic boards, largeformat displays (LFDs) and table tops have been given touch screens. Ifa user touches the touch screen, an image or an icon on the screen isselected or executed. However, if there are a plurality of items on thescreen, a user must touch and execute each item to obtain informationregarding each item and to figure out how each of items should beexecuted. This may require a lot of work from the user and thusundermine usability.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the present invention relate to a method and apparatus forproviding a graphical user interface (GUI) which provides a user withinformation regarding items accessed by the user from among items on atouch screen.

A method for providing a GUI, according to an exemplary embodimentcomprises displaying a plurality of items, sensing an approach to adisplay screen by a user and identifying an item approached by the user,providing information regarding the identified item, sensing a contactof the display screen by the user, and performing a functioncorresponding to the user contact.

The providing information regarding the identified item may furthercomprise providing information regarding a function corresponding to theuser contact, with regard to the item approached by the user.

The providing information regarding a function corresponding to the usercontact may provide information regarding a function which can beperformed in response to the user contact, with regard to the itemapproached by the user.

The providing information regarding a function corresponding to the usercontact may provide a symbol indicating an operation which can beperformed by the user contact operation.

The providing information regarding a function corresponding to the usercontact may provide the information as an animation.

The method may further comprise removing the information regarding theidentified item if the user contact is not sensed for a predeterminedperiod of time.

The providing information regarding the identified item may furthercomprise changing a size of information regarding the item according toa distance from the user to the item.

The sensing contact by the user may further comprise sensing a type ofuser contact and determining a user command corresponding to the usercontact, and the performing a function corresponding to the user contactmay further comprise performing a function corresponding to thedetermined user command.

The sensing the type of user contact may comprise identifying a path ofcontact by the user and identifying a command to execute a functioncorresponding to the identified path of contact.

The performing a function corresponding to the user contact may furthercomprise performing a function corresponding to a determined usercommand with regard to the identified item.

The approach and contact by a user may be approach and contact by partof the user's body or a subject of the user.

A display apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment comprises adisplay unit which displays a plurality of items, a proximity sensorunit which senses an approach to the display unit by a user, a touchsensor unit that senses a contact of the display unit by the user, and acontrol unit which identifies one item of the plurality of items byanalyzing an approached point on the display unit sensed by theproximity sensor unit, displays information regarding the one item onthe display unit, and performs a function corresponding to the usercontact sensed by the touch sensor unit.

The control unit may control the display unit to display informationregarding a function corresponding to the user contact and informationregarding an input method of the user contact as information regardingthe one item.

The control unit may control the display unit to remove the informationon the display unit corresponding to the one item based on no usercontact being sensed for a predetermined period of time.

The control unit may control the display unit to change a size of theinformation on the display unit corresponding to the one item accordingto a distance from a user to the one item.

The control unit may control the display unit to remove the informationon the display unit corresponding to the one item based on a usercontact being sensed through the touch sensor unit.

The control unit may control the display unit to display informationregarding a function that can be performed corresponding to the oneitem.

The control unit may control the display unit to display a symbolindicating an operation corresponding to the user contact.

The control unit may control the display unit to display information asan animation.

The touch sensor unit may transmit information regarding a type of usercontact to the control unit, and the control unit may perform the usercommand corresponding to the type of user contact based on the usercommand being associated with the one item.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other exemplary aspects and advantages will become apparentand more readily appreciated from the following description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an exemplary electronic apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an exemplary GUI in which item informationis displayed in the vicinity of an item when a user approaches the on atouch LCD screen;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating exemplary operation information of an itemwhich is displayed in the vicinity of the item after user approach issensed.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are flow charts of GUI methods according to exemplaryembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examplesof which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals refer to like elements throughout. Embodiments aredescribed below by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the structure of an interface controllingapparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, theinterface controlling apparatus 100 comprises a touch sensor unit 110, aproximity sensor unit 120, a control unit 130, a memory unit 140, animage processing unit 150, and a display unit 160.

The touch sensor unit 110 which senses touch on the display unit 160identifies a location through contact of a finger, or the palm of thehand, and resistance type, capacitive type, and infrared ray type may beapplied. In the capacitive type, sensors sensing touch are crossedhorizontally and vertically, voltage is applied at a predeterminedinterval, and electric current flows as electric charge is induced.Since a human finger draws electric charge, if the finger contacts across point, electric current is reduced as much as the reduced electriccharge. Accordingly, the contact point can be recognized. In this case,the electric current that flows through the sensor changes depending onthe intensity of contact. For instance, if electric current is notreduced by the contact, the electric current is a maximum value, and thevalue of the electric current is reduced gradually according to thedegree of the contact and approach. That is, if the change of electriccurrent is measured, the pressure applied by the human contact can alsobe measured. In this case, if the voltage of the sensor is raised beyonda certain level, even approach within a certain distance beforecontacting the sensor can be sensed. The proximity sensor unit 120 maybe realized through the above method, or may be realized through othermethods which use heat, light, electric waves, ultrasonic waves, orinfrared rays.

The memory unit 140 may store information regarding a plurality ofoperations performed by each item controlled by a user, informationregarding gestures which execute each operation, and informationregarding an approached subject when a user approach signal is receivedfrom the proximity sensor unit 120.

The image processing unit 150 transmits an image signal so that thedisplay unit 160 displays an item controlled by a user and informationregarding the item.

The display unit 160 receives an image signal from the image processingunit 150 and displays it on a screen. The display unit 160 may berealized as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel(PDP), a projection display, a digital light processing (DLP) display,or an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display.

The control unit 130 controls the image processing unit 150 to displaymore than one item, and identifies an item approached by a user usingproximity information if user approach information is received throughthe proximity sensor unit 120.

If a user touch is sensed through the touch sensor unit 110, the controlunit 130 recognizes the user touch information, identifies a commandcorresponding to the touch information through touch information storedin the memory unit 140 and a corresponding command table, and executesthe command. For instance, if a touch point is moved from one point toan opposite point in the case of multi-touch, the touch sensor unit 110transmits the touch information to the control unit 130, and the controlunit 130 interprets the touch information received from the touch sensorunit 110 as magnifying and displaying a corresponding item based on thecommand table regarding the touch information in the memory unit 140.The control unit 130 controls the display unit 160 to display themagnified image of the corresponding item. The item may be defined notonly to be magnified but also to be rotated. For instance, if a touchpoint is moved in a circle while being touched, the control unit 130receives the information regarding the movement of the touch point fromthe touch sensor unit 110, interprets the information as rotating theitem based on the command table regarding the touch information in thememory unit 140, and controls the display unit 160 to rotate and displaythe corresponding item. The detailed example regarding this will beexplained later with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 7.

The display unit 160 is an apparatus to output an image on a screenunder the control of the control unit 130.

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating an example of providing item informationregarding an item approached by a user. A plurality of items 210, 220,230 are displayed on a screen 200, and if the user approaches one of theplurality of items 210, 220, 230, the control unit 130 identifies theapproached item through the proximity sensor unit 120 and displaysinformation regarding the corresponding item 240.

The information regarding the corresponding item 240 may be informationregarding a location of the item, a title, a file name, a file type,functions of the item, or user commands to perform functions.

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating an example of item information. FIG. 3illustrates that if the item is an image, the image may be magnified,reduced, or rotated. A magnification command 340 may be executed on anitem if a touch is input in the outward direction as indicated by twoarrows 310, or a contraction command 350 may be executed on an item if atouch is input in the inward direction as indicated by two arrows 320.In addition, a rotation 360 may be performed on an item if a touch isinput in a circular direction as indicated by a round arrow 330.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method of controlling a userinterface according to an exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4, thedisplay unit 160 displays a plurality of items on a screen under thecontrol of the control unit 130 (S410).

Data to be displayed may include an image or a screen including text,and part of the data may be displayed on the screen while other dataremains hidden. For instance, only an upper part of the data may bedisplayed on the screen while the lower part of the data may be hidden.

If an object or a person approaches (S420-Y), the proximity sensor unit120 detects the approached point. The control unit 130 identifies theapproached item from among items displayed on the screen throughinformation regarding the approached point received from the proximitysensor unit 120 (S430).

If the control unit 130 identifies the approached item, the control unit130 reads out operation information regarding the item from the memoryunit 140 and displays it to show information regarding the approacheditem (S440).

If contact on the screen (a touch) is sensed (S450-Y), the touch sensorunit 110 transmits the information regarding the contact (the touch andmove operation) to the control unit 130, and the control unit 130executes a command corresponding to the information (S460).

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a method of controlling an interfaceaccording to another exemplary embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, thedisplay unit 160 displays a plurality of items on a screen under thecontrol of the control unit 130 (S510).

Data to be displayed may include an image or a screen including text,and part of the data may be displayed on the screen while other dataremains hidden. For instance, only an upper part of the data may bedisplayed on the screen while the lower part of the data may be hidden.

If an object or a person approaches (S520-Y), the proximity sensor unit120 detects the approached point. The control unit 130 identifies theapproached item from among items displayed on the screen throughinformation regarding the approached point received from the proximitysensor unit 120 (S530).

If the control unit 130 identifies the approached item, the control unit130 reads out operation information regarding the item from the memoryunit 140 and displays it to show information regarding the approacheditem (S540).

If a predetermined time elapses without any contact on the screen(S550-Y), it is determined that there is no additional input by a userregarding the item, and operation information regarding the item isremoved from the screen (S560).

In the above description, exemplary embodiments have been described.

The information regarding the items in the above examples may beprovided in other ways such as, but not limited to, animations, text, orarrows.

In addition, a display size of information regarding an item may changedepending on a distance from a user to the displayed item.

In order to recognize a user command input through contact (touch), thecontrol unit 130 may analyze a contact track by the user and recognize acommand corresponding to the contact track by the use as the usercommand.

With respect to an exemplary embodiment, it has been described thatinformation regarding an item may be removed if user contact is notsensed for a predetermined period of time. However, alternately, theinformation regarding an item may be configured to be removed after usercontact is sensed, or may be removed based on another trigger.

An interface controlling apparatus according to exemplary embodimentscould be any one of a number of apparatuses as would be understood byone of skill in the art. Exemplary embodiments may be applied not onlyto a TV which is a mounted display apparatus, but also to a mobilephone, a PMP, an MP3 player, or the like, which are portableapparatuses.

As in the above description, according to exemplary embodiments, as auser is able to view information regarding an item before directlycontacting the item, the number of manipulations by the user may thus bereduced, and faulty manipulation and faulty operation may be prevented.Consequently, a GUI with higher usability may be provided.

Although exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, it wouldbe appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be madewithout departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, thescope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for providing a graphical user interface, the methodcomprising: displaying a plurality of items on a display screen; sensingan approach to the display screen by a user and identifying one item ofthe plurality of items approached by the user; in response to theidentifying the one item, displaying information regarding the one item;sensing a contact of the display screen by the user; and in response tothe sensing the contact, performing a function corresponding to thecontact.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displayinginformation regarding the one item, further comprises: displayinginformation regarding at least one function corresponding to the oneitem.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the at least onefunction comprises at least one function which can be performed inresponse to the user contact.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3,wherein the displaying the at least one function comprises displaying atlease one symbol indicating an operation which can be performed by auser contact operation, corresponding to the at least one function. 5.The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the displaying informationregarding at least one function comprises displaying at lease oneanimation corresponding to the at least one function.
 6. The method asclaimed in claim 1, further comprising: removing from the display screenthe information regarding the one item based on no user contact beingsensed for a predetermined period of time.
 7. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the displaying information regarding the one item,further comprises: changing a size of the information according to adistance from the user to the one item.
 8. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the sensing the contact of the display screen by theuser, further comprises: sensing a type of user contact and determininga user command corresponding to the type of user contact; and whereinthe performing the function corresponding to the contact, furthercomprises: performing a function corresponding to the determined usercommand.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the sensing thetype of user command, further comprises: identifying path of usercontact on the display screen; and identifying a command which executesa function corresponding to the identified path of user contact.
 10. Themethod as claimed in claim 8, wherein the performing the functioncorresponding to the determined user contact, further comprises:performing a function corresponding to the determined user command withthe one item.
 11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the approachby the user and the contact by the user is approach and contact by apart of the user's body.
 12. A display apparatus, comprising: a displayunit which displays a plurality of items; a proximity sensor unit whichsenses an approach to the display unit by a user; a touch sensor unitwhich senses contact of the display unit by the user; and a control unitwhich identifies one item of the plurality of items by analyzing anapproached point on the display unit sensed by the proximity sensorunit, which displays information on the display unit corresponding tothe one item, and performs a function corresponding to the user contactsensed by the touch sensor unit.
 13. The display apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the control unit controls the display unit to displayinformation regarding the function corresponding to the user contact andto display information regarding an input method.
 14. The displayapparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the control unit controls thedisplay unit to remove the information on the display unit correspondingto the one item based on no user contact being sensed for apredetermined period of time.
 15. The display apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the control unit controls the display unit to change asize of the information on the display unit corresponding to the oneitem according to a distance from the user to the one item.
 16. Thedisplay apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the control unitcontrols the display unit to remove the information on the display unitcorresponding to the one item based on a contact by the user beingthrough the touch sensor unit.
 17. The display apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the control unit controls the display unit to displayinformation regarding a function that can be performed corresponding tothe one item.
 18. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 12, whereinthe control unit controls the display unit to display a symbolindicating an operation which can be performed by the user contactoperation.
 19. The display apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein thecontrol unit controls the display unit to display information regardingthe function corresponding to the user contact as an animation.
 20. Thedisplay apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the touch sensor unittransmits information regarding a type of user contact to the controlunit, wherein the control unit determines a user command correspondingto the type of user contact and performs the user command correspondingto the type of user contact based on the user command being associatedwith the one item.
 21. A method of providing a graphical user interface,the method comprising: displaying a plurality of items on a displayscreen; sensing an approach of a user to the display screen; identifyingone item of the plurality of items which is approached by the user;displaying information corresponding to the one item; sensing a contactof the display screen by the user; determining, of a plurality of typesof contact, one type of contact of the contact of the display screen bythe user, and determining a function corresponding to the one type ofcontact; performing the function corresponding to the one type ofcontact.